UW Profs on Obama transition

A pair of University of Washington law professors are working in the Obama transition for two cabinet departments where big changes are expected — the Interior Department and the Labor Department.

Prof. Robert Anderson, who directs the UW’s Native American Law Center, is co-chair of the Interior transition.

Anderson worked as a legal adviser to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt from 1995 to 2001, a period that saw the Clinton administration designate new national monuments in five states of the western United States. One of the areas, the Hanford Reach National Monument, is in Eastern Washington.

Prof. Paul Miller is working on the Labor department transition. Miller is a former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission commissioner, and is a nationally recognized expert in employment discrimination.

President-elect Obama has yet to select an Interior or Labor secretary.

During the Clinton first term, Interior Secretary Babbitt and Labor Secretary Robert Reich were two of the most prominent and outspoken members of the president’s administration. Reich later wrote a book, “Locked in the Cabinet,” which offered candid — some said too candid — impressions of Bill Clinton and Al Gore.